Your Personal Tone

[Manual Slim]

Hi.



Still can't figure out what @loopfinding linked to. Either an AC/DC album or a Norwegian metal band, it would seem?

But, I'm digging that All News is Good News album - thanks.



Yeah, probably. But people do seem to think they have 'their personal tone,' and try as I might to not let the idea grate, it remains a trigger, along with 'tone fingers.' Perhaps we need to start using tone trigger warnings? Like 'TW//tone words'

Pax/
Dean

I claim my tone as my own but I don't take it personally if someone sounds similar.

 

[Tele-beeb]

Very present…
Clean, but so powerful the resonant/harmonic frequencies create an illusion of distortion.
For the frosting, a tinge of dirt on top.
Not real hard to attain with the right tube circuit or a really powerful/clean solid-state.

P.S. When I dig in, I want more volume… not a volume gate that distorts. That is the high bar for many amps and most dirt pedals (IME.)

 

[JustABluesGuy]

How would you describe your personal tone? Whose tone is it similar to? How do you get it? What amp, settings, strings, pickups, pedals etc. do you use to achieve this? Thanks!

My personal tone is edge of breakup. Hopefully I don’t sound too much like anyone else. I have specifically tried NOT to. I use picking dynamics with a mix of pick and fingers. I also fiddle with my guitar’s V and T knobs for different amounts of gain, and to move forward (for solos) and back in the mix.



I generally sound like me no matter what gear I use. Give me a decent, relatively easy to dial in amp, maybe an OD pedal and a little slap back delay and I will probably be ok. I have gone straight into others amps, even using their guitars (I had my own “log” pick) and while it wasn’t ideal, in the mix it was fine and no one complained, so…

 

[SlimGrady]

I would say my tone is raw, crunchy, dry, with amp compression and sustain. I use a LP Jr or an esquire into an Echopark Vibramatic 23(brownface fender style circuit) or some sort of british flavored amp (Germino on the way). I really am minimal on pedals, I like to play around with them but mainly use a Klone for some boost and a Supa Trem, as I love tremolo.

Ultimately I like to say I go for a "greasy" tone that sounds like your favorite 70's live shows.
*Edited to add I ride my guitar volume constantly to go between clean and dirt in that realm and jump out for lead lines and then sit back in the mix.

 

[P-Nutz]

I play in two cover bands; whatever the song needs.

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

Chonky, chewy, clean, pleasing.

 

[msalama]

Traditional on the edge gritty with emphasized mids, no bass to speak of, and a bit of treble and presence. Neck PU for lead and sometimes a TS9 as well, and that's pretty much it. Keep it simple!

 

[Cyberi4n]

Telecaster with Neck Mini Bucker into a Marshall Origin 50, with Volume on 7 and Gain on 8, tilt set more toward the high gain side of things but gain boost itself off.

MXR Mini Boost pedal for that solo boost, and a wampler mini Tumnus for a bit more drive, and an MXR Raw Dog for even more gain

 

[Doctorx33]

I’m using a Traynor YBA1A and an AC30CC2 in stereo. I dime them, more or less. These days I use attenuators.

I guess my tone is similar to lukather in the old days. I’m not a fan of his modern tone.

I have a ton of distortion pedals, chorus, delay, univibes, etc but give me my old SD-1 into a cranked tube amp and I’m happy.

 

[StrangerNY]

Mostly a good amount of gain, with good definition on top. I like to be able to clean up if I back off the volume. Most of the time I'll just turn on whatever boost/OD I happen to be using and work the volume control on the guitar.

Les Paul - fat and kinda mid-rangey. Tele - full, with the highs dialed back some so I don't ice-pick anybody.

- D

 

[darkwaters]

Tone wise, I aim more and more for a 50s Blues and Jazz sound. Really not interested in Rock tones. I use American style amps, mild OD, Tremolo, Reverb and P90s and humbuckers. No Fender single coils. Lately I’ve been really enjoying my S&P L-00 sized acoustic with a Gretsch Deltoluxe pickup installed. Plugged into my Supro Super it’s fast becoming one of my favourite tones.

 

[Timbresmith1]

I can define a sort of starting point for a sound that works for me with Esquire or Tele. Somewhere in the “Interstellar Overdrive” (Pink Floyd studio version) and Jeff Beck era Yardbirds sounds. From there, I can beat the tone into shape or wrangle it into riffage.

 

[Boxla]

I want to get a Jerry Garcia clean tone. It's what I shoot for with a mix of Waylon Jennings or Redd Volkaert

Here's one example of the Jerry tone I'm talking about. Fast Forward to the 1:45 mark for the solo. I know it's not his best solo for this song but the tone is beautiful to my ears. I also chose to post this song vs hundreds of others because;
1- I love this song so much
2- This was Jerry's last concert before he died
3- So often people regurgitate that Jerry was terrible at the end and just a corpse on the stage. But, it's simply not true and the proof and facts and in the pudding. This video is just one example, but there are several. Granted, he was in bad shape the last tour and last years but he still had incredible outstanding moments and this song is an example of that. To think he'd be dead in a month's time yet could belt out this tune is pretty amazing to me.

 

[Alex_C]

I have no idea how to describe my sound. I can say it changes often. People have said I sound like Satriani, but I don't think so. I love the sound Andy Timmons gets. My favorite sounds are a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil at the neck. Edge of breakup is my goto, Laney Lionheart EL84 Class A amp works for me. I use several different Distortion/ODs: Caline BB Pre clone, Timmy, Fender Pugilist, JHS @, NUX compressor and an Ibanez Echo Shifter II (in front of the amp).

 

[Winky]

Depends what I'm trying to play, but it inevitably features poor timing, bum notes, stuttered phrasing, unintentional buzzes and mutes, and various other stumbles. I have a long way to go before I become too worried about "tone" in the way you guys are speaking. I've only been playing 45 years, and another 45 should see me right.

 

[ReverendRevolver]

Sarcastic.

Oh, the geetar one?

Back 15 years ago, my tone was smooth and a little watery. There was always reverb and or chorus. Humbuckers, Gibson 57classic and plus, in my Toronado through my Fender 75. Distorted sounds were very fuzzy (muff or graphic fuzz) or I'd sacrifice a but of my clean tone to dial in a useable "lead" sound and use that channel. That was several bands, but I used the chorus less in the punk band.

Now?
Late 80s us standard tele Into a delay pedal (bbe twotimer) for a bit of slapback. That into an ABY box (EHX switchblade+) into the 2 inputs of my Frenzel DeluxePlus25-800(into a 12" cab containing a weber grey wolf). I generally run the F channel as a clean and the M channel as a bit of dirt. I'm regretting not throwing the extra money into the Frenzel for the tremelo and a footswitch for the edge (NNFB) mode. Oh well.

I'm considering running the Frenzel and the 5e5, but I'm waiting until we decide ona bass player so I'm not in someone else's Sonic space.

Playing style hasn't changed much, but my actual tone has evolved. Slowly.

 

[Brett Valentine]

These days, the actual "tone" is the character of the guitar itself rather than an "imposed tone."

It sort of sits along a contimuum.

clean to "-ish":
Pat Metheny --- Mike Stern --- Brad Paisley

drive:
Allen Hinds --- David Grissom --- Thom Quayle

And of course, all with the Tele right now, and most of the "feel" differences are related to the r.h. fingers, or the rounded or pointed corner of the pic.

 

[haggardfan1]

I play in two cover bands; whatever the song needs.

I'm in a classic country cover band, and I jam informally with a friend who does Eagles, John Denver, Moody Blues, and runs the gamut. For all of that, I make my tone approximate the original as best I can.

But personally I'm after this kind of tone, and I've been chasing it unashamedly for about twenty years:



(Oh by the way...yes, Merle screwed up his own lyrics. He did that all the time, and nobody's ever cared. )

 

[39martind18]

My Sheraton 1964 RI, with minihums and a piezo pickup bridge, usually on the neck pickup, tone , rolled down to 3-4 for a big full bottom sound (but somewhat focused with the minihums), and the piezo rolled in for top-end sheen and a taste of acoustic tone, straight into my 79 Vibrolux Reverb, treble and bass controls at about 7- add or subtract to taste. The sound is typically clean, punchy and full, with reverb in the amp at 3.5-4. If more bite is desired, flip to mid position on the pickup selector, then dial in as much bridge pickup as needed.

 

[985plowboy]

Hand me your rig and I’ll show you. I pretty much sound like me whatever I’m playing on.